Preserving History

Aiming to keep Canada’s vast cultural heritage alive, La Belle Amérique is a creative venture with purpose

- Helene Jasmin

Canada has a long and beautiful history. Ever since we were visited by Leif Erikson during the Viking Age, “discovered” by Christopher Columbus, then taken possession of by Jacques Cartier and colonized by Samuel de Champlain—our country, and America in general, has always been an object of desire and conquest for many.

La Belle Amérique, or Beautiful America in English, was originally founded in 1986 by three French Canadian women: Germaine Ellis, Nicole Joli-Coeur and Christiane Michaels. Since purchasing La Belle Amérique in 1997, my partner Michel Bélisle and I, together with our devoted staff and project collaborators, have been dedicated to collecting and preserving history and art related to our country’s vast cultural heritage.

We aim to help promote Canadian traditions and culture through our lectures, books and reproductions of artifacts such as glasswork, pottery and silverware. Recently, we’ve developed an interest in showcasing modern personalities who are emerging as cultural icons in our country.

Throughout my career as a columnist and researcher, I’ve had the opportunity to meet many fascinating people of note. In the late ’70s, I had the chance to interview Father Émile Legault, a Catholic priest who founded a repertory theatre group in 1937 at the Collège de Saint-Laurent in Montreal. This was quite an unusual thing to do back in those days. The troupe lasted for 15 years and became one of the most influential theatrical companies in the history of Quebec. Father Legault recruited promising young actors, such as a young Jean Gascon n, who went on to become a leading actor, the artistic director of the Strat- ford Festival in Ontario, and the theatre director at the National Arts Center in Ottawa.